NEWS 2013

Tree Planting at Darnford
Park

21st December - Mike Battison, our environmental
guru plants an oak tree at Darnford Park. Mike Brown and Pete
Magee assisted with the digging while 15 other Trust members
gave support.
�The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a
dream. The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the
egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel
stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.� ~ James
Allen

City Centre Display now
open

December 15th - Our new temporary display in the
Lichfield City Arcade is now open. It is attracting considerable
interest and several new members have been signed up already.
DIsplay boards tell the story of the of work done by the Trust
in it's first 25 years and explain future objectives. A video
showing the past three Huddlesford Gatherings is also on
display. If you can help to staff the unit please contact Mervyn Ainge or any
Trust officer.

City Centre Shop for the
Canal Trust

The Lichfield Canal Trust has been granted a licence to
temporarily occupy an empty shop in the City Centre Arcade in
Lichfield. We plan to use the premises for displays to increase
local awareness of the trust activities by
explaining the work of the
trust and its position in the community, as well as recruiting
new members and encouraging donations.

We have the keys and the challenge now is to create an eye
catching, interesting, and informative presentation. We will be
open from Saturday 15th until a new tenant is found.

We hope to open on market days - Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays
- and perhaps Sundays. It will require considerable commitment
to staff the shop. Although the Trust has over 1800 members we
desperately need more help on the ground. If you can help in
anyway please contact
Mervyn Ainge or any
Trust officer.

Autumn Social

Our Autumn Social was held on the 26th October
in Whittington Village Hall. Musical entertainment was by the
5-piece band from Cannock "Second Thoughts" who went down a
storm with their varied selection of 60's classics.
Around 100 people attended and were served a fish & chip
supper complete with bread and butter and salt n' vinegar,
followed by gateau or fruit salad.
This year's Grand Prize Draw with a first prize of �500 was
drawn, full list of winners below.
Several donated items including two pictures were auctioned
which took the funds raised by the evening to about �700.
Another successful and most enjoyable event!

Grand
Prize Draw

The
response to our Grand Prize Draw has been exceptional,
with 6,150 tickets sold. As before, the Draw was made
by members of the audience at our Social Evening at
Whittington Village Hall on Saturday, 26th October 2013.

We thank all our members who supported
this fund-raising activity and to our willing
volunteers who made a special effort in this 25th
Anniversary Year.

Hatherton
Canal
Dredging

October 2013 - Contractors
Aquaclear
Water Management working for the Canal & River Trust
have been carrying out dredging operations on part of the
Hatherton Canal between Catsbridge Lane Bridge and
Cherry Tree Bridge (No. 8) behind the Roman Way Hotel. Two
specialist machines are in use, one dredging and one reed
cutting, for about 9 days.

Towpath Trail Launched

Over the coming months sections of the Lichfield Canal Towpath
will be opened to the public to form the Heritage Towpath Trail. A
Brochure and Interactive Map will be issued showing how the
Lichfield Canal wraps around the City, including links into the
City and other paths, walks, cycle routes etc as well as heritage
information.

The first 6km were launched by Help for Heroes
champion Doug Hamilton
Cox who is walking the canals of the UK collecting for the
troops along the way, and also raising the profile of the work
being done to restore our industrial heritage.

Huddlesford
Heritage Gathering
Sept 21st and 22nd 2013

The Draco Crafts boat �Success� aptly describes
the Huddlesford Heritage Gathering of 2013.
Held over the weekend of 21st - 22nd September, fine weather
helped to ensure a well attended and most enjoyable event.

Organised jointly by the Lichfield and Hatherton Canals
Restoration Trust and the Lichfield Cruising Club this was the
first two-day event and marked the 25th anniversary of the
trust.

The organisers wish to say a big thank you to all those who
worked so hard to make the event such a success.

New webmaster

Sue Williams has
retired after 12 years of building from scratch and running
the LHCRT website. The new webmaster is Paul Marshall.
Paul said "Sue has done a brilliant job with the site but unlike
Sue I am not a fount of all knowedge as far as trust affairs go
so I will be very much dependant on other members to feed me
with information to put on the site."

27th August - The LHCRT
website is now using a new server which doubles the amount of
space available at less than half the cost.
The Trust's web site is hosted by Easily.co.uk

High Sheriff of
Staffordshire visits Lichfield Canal

Mrs Sarah
Elsom, High Sheriff of Staffordshire has paid tribute to dedicated
volunteers working on restoring the Lichfield Canal. At a
ceremonial planting of a Swedish Birch tree in Darnford Park,
Lichfield on Wednesday 3rd April, she praised those who have
worked for many years to bring back this closed 200-year old
waterway link across the Midlands. Cllr Ken Humphreys, also
attended to give his support as Chairman of Lichfield District
Council.

The High Sheriff of Staffordshire, Mrs Sarah Elsom with Cllr and
Mrs Humphreys,
Eric Wood (President of the Trust) and Peter Buck (Engineering
Director of the Trust)
with volunteers and members of the Trust

Meeting members
of the Lichfield & Hatherton Canals Restoration Trust, the
High Sheriff was pleased to see how much has been done by so few
who volunteer their time and expertise from many walks of life to
undertake such public spirited work. With her own background as a
Museum Curator and as the Queen�s Representative for upholding law
and order in Staffordshire, she recognised the value of restoring
such a valuable public amenity in the County.

In dedicating
the tree, Mrs Elsom said it provides a focal point for the public
to recognise Trust workers, past and present, who have striven
over many years, often against difficult circumstances, towards
putting Lichfield back on the waterways map of Britain. She says
that �The whole fabric of community life would crumble without the
many people who give their time and resources tirelessly to help
others. There are so many organisations and individuals across the
County who make a real difference to the lives of others.�

Easter Coffee
Morning CANCELLED

Because of the very wintry weather
and the forecast of more snow and ice to come over the Easter
weekend it has been decided to cancel the "Coffee Morning" at
Whittington Wharf this year. This is always a very enjoyable and
well supported event and we are disappointed to have to call it
off.

We hope everyone will understand and we will try to
re-schedule it when the weather improves.

(This is not Whittington Wharf, it's Bob's car on the drive in
Hammerwich, but you get the idea!)

Update.
The concert at Lichfield Cathedral by the Morriston Orpheus
Choir was an event which no-one who attended is likely to
forget. One of the world�s great male voice choirs, they
gave a magnificent performance of great variety, but for me
they were at their very best when singing the stirring
hymns, especially so in Welsh.
All this despite the tragic death, in the Cathedral and just
before the start of the concert, of one of their members.
Another member had died at home in Cardiff before they set
out, so it must have been very tough for them to continue.

We hope to engage the choir again in the future,
when, given more time to arrange publicity and sponsorship, we
should have another successful evening, one not to be missed.

Terry Brown

We are very fortunate to have engaged this renowned
choir to give a memorable performance in support of our
Silver Jubilee Year.

Formed in 1935 and enjoying an international
reputation as a leading exponent of male choral
singing, the Morriston Orpheus Choir is in constant
demand performing around 25-30 engagements annually.
The Choir, often referred to as the �Ambassadors of
Song�, is probably the most travelled of the Welsh
male voice choirs, often appearing on television and
at engagements abroad.

I�m Terry Brown; I�ve been a Trust member and volunteer
for 12 years, so I know how hard it is to raise money and
how careful we are to spend it wisely. As this year marks
our 25th anniversary I�ve decided to do a sponsored walk
and am asking for your support. In the last 2 weeks in
April I�m doing Wainwright�s Coast-to-Coast walk. At about
200 miles, and with a total ascent equivalent to climbing
Everest, it�s described as �challenging�, but I�m
confident of completing it. I know that simply by being a
member you already contribute, and that many of you live a
long way from Lichfield, so never get the chance to see
the progress we�re making, but if you could make even a
small donation it would mean a few more bricks in the
wall. Please make any donations via the website, or send
to Bob Williams at the address below.
Thank you for reading this appeal and, hopefully, for your
support.

If you are a taxpayer Gift Aid can make your donation
worth more. For every �1 you give us we get an extra 25p
from the Inland Revenue. Just select "yes" in the Gift
Aid box below to allow us to reclaim tax on the amount
you have paid. It�s that simple.
(You must pay an amount of Income Tax and/or Capital
Gains Tax for each tax year that is at least equal to
the amount of tax that the Trust will reclaim on your
gifts for that tax year.)